


Rebuilding the Foundation

by thisiswherethefishlives



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: AU where Gonzalez's SHIELD doesn't take too kindly to Fitz's unwillingness to bend, Fitz is in captivity, Gonzalez isn't a great guy, I figure that if I post this here I'll have to finish it, M/M, Mack needs to make a choice, Tumblr drabble fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-03
Updated: 2015-07-03
Packaged: 2018-04-07 10:13:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4259487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisiswherethefishlives/pseuds/thisiswherethefishlives
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Instead of letting Fitz go, Gonzalez keeps him locked up so as not to lose precious SHIELD resources and secrets. Faced with the increasingly questionable treatment of the man that he cares for, Mack must choose - will he stand with Gonzalez and the 'Real SHIELD', or will he rebuild the foundation of what he once had with Fitz instead?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“You going back in, Mack?”

Taking a deep breath, Mack does his best to remind himself thatthese are his peers. These people are the real S.H.I.E.L.D., and they are doingwhat is necessary to save the world. Just because Mack doesn’t always believein the methods doesn’t make them wrong… or evil. They aren’t  _Hydra_.

“Yeah, Joe. Eventually he’ll give us the information that we needto open the Toolbox. Even if he’s upset with me, he’s more likely to talk to me than he would to any of you.”

The way Joe laughs at that, like it’s some inside joke, has that heavy feeling of doubt that’s been curling in his gut returning in full force.

“Obviously! The way that kid looks at you, you’ll have him eating out of your hands in no time.”

He doesn’t bother responding back, focusing instead on what the hell he’s going to say to Fitz once the cell is unlocked. These days, it’s becoming more and more difficult to say anything that feels real.

There’s a telltale click when the lock comes undone, and it’s only once the door swings open that Mack can see Fitz. He’s lost weight since the takeover - Simmons, who has been acting in an advisory position, suggested that it could be the stress… Mack thinks that it has more to do with Fitz’s stubbornness, but he’s not about to share his opinion… not after Bobbi’s report on how Skye’s “retrieval” was handled.

Fitz doesn’t look up when Mack lets himself into the room, doesn’t bother to acknowledge him when the door swings shut leaving the two of them alone.

Well, as alone as two men can be when they are surrounded by recording devices.

“Hey, Turbo. I’m sorry that I didn’t get to come see you yesterday. Everything’s been pretty hectic around here… You holding up okay?”

Fitz doesn’t acknowledge Mack’s words at all, and it’s like a stab to the chest because Fitz? He’s the best thing that’s happened to Mack in a long time. He let him get too close under his skin, and for as much that was never said on the subject, it hangs heavy between them.

“C’mon, Fitz. They tell me that you haven’t been eating, and you’re not talking, and it’s starting to freak me out. I  _know_  that you have your orders, but at the end of the day we all work for S.H.I.E.L.D., and sometimes orders change. Honestly, I don’t care about the damn Toolbox anymore, I just need you to take care of yourself until we can get you out of this and back out with the team.”

“I don’t know how.” Fitz’s voice is rough from disuse, but it’s the first time that he’s spoken to Mack in over a week.

“That’s okay, though. All Gonzalez wants is for you to examine it and tell-” Fitz is shaking his head at Mack’s words and the action manages to dry the words right off of Mack’s tongue.

“I don’t know how to trust you. You meant  _everything_  to me, Mack, and I don’t know how to trust you.” For the first time, Fitz turns to face Mack, and it makes his heart ache to see the dark circles underneath Fitz’s eyes. He looks wrecked, and exhausted, and so sad. “I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to trust you again.”

The words hurt, but Mack knows that it’s the least of what he deserves for allowing Fitz to be put through all this. Gently, he takes a seat on the cot next to Fitz and reaches out for the other man’s hand. Fitz doesn’t resist, but his hand is cold and limp in Mack’s - automatically, he starts rubbing warmth back into Fitz’s fingers, a familiar gesture of comfort and love that Mack hasn’t had a reason to use in awhile. It feels good, but at the end of the day, this is about Fitz. Clearing his throat, Mack keeps his eyes locked on Fitz’s slender fingers.

“I never told you about Tim, but I think it’s probably time.”

It’s not ideal, surrounded by recording devices and agents stationed outside the cell, but Fitz deserves to know the truth -  _Mack’s_ truth, at the very least… and that truth starts with getting everything that’s hung between them, unsaid, out into the open.


	2. Chapter 2

It becomes something of a routine despite Gonzalez’s growing impatience. Mack visitsthe cell once a day, takes Fitz’s smaller hands in his, and shares pieces of hispast.

SometimesMack talks about his family, growing up in a house with three generations ofstrong women, and how his grandmother keeps waiting for him to bring the rightperson home to visit. She wants grandchildren, couldn’t care less that he’s gay because there are options these days and she knows every single one of them.

She would have loved Fitz.

Other times he tells Fitz about his exes, because as much as they shot the shit over beer, there’s still so much that they don’t know about each other. In general, he had picked the nice guys to be with, the ones that you can still be friends with years after breaking up. Mack really hadn’t lied before when he told Fitz that his exes were great… but then, he had never mentioned Tim before.

Tim had been  _more_  than great, and he probably would have been it for Mack if things had gone down differently.

He could have Mack in stitches effortlessly with his dry, sarcastic wit. Tim could be brusque and rude at first, partial to machines over people, but his capacity to love was unlimited. The first time Mack had seen him really smile? Yeah, Mack had loved him fiercely, couldn’t have imagined a life without Tim until the moment he was gunned down at Mack’s side.

Of course, Mack had mourned him… had mourned him the best that he was able to in the fallout of the big Hydra reveal… but then there had been Fitz, and being around Fitz so  _quickly_  became a necessary part of Mack’s day-to-day.

Being around Fitz didn’t make the ache of losing Tim any less, it actually made it worse because for months after the fall, Mack had walked around numb and cold. He got the jobs done and kept his head down, and he felt nothing until the day he first walked into Fitz’s lab.

Being around Fitz was warmth, the kind of feeling that hits you from your head down to your toes, and it thawed all that pain and hurt and anger… all that aching pain brought to the surface only to be softened under the warmth of Fitz’s attention.

As much as the team thought Mack had been helping Fitz back in the beginning of his recovery, they couldn’t have been farther from the truth. Fitz  _saved_  Mack.

So, yeah. It becomes something of a routine as Mack bares his soul in an attempt to build back some of the trust that he damaged. It’s the only thing that Fitz has responded favorably to, what with him shutting down completely at Mack’s attempts to care for him.

They are past the point where Mack would beg Fitz to just give in a little bit - to eat more, to take care of himself, to give Gonzalez what he wants so that they can get Fitz out of his prison.

The begging never works. Bargaining isn’t an option, and Gonzalez quickly learned that threats don’t really phase Leo Fitz these days.

So, Mack does the only thing he can. He sits next to Fitz with their hands entwined in the space between them. Every day he answers Fitz’s questions, and he shares pieces of his life, and he bares his heart… and he waits.


	3. Chapter 3

It’s strange now, walking around the Playground, because somewhere along the line Mack got stuck in this in-between. He’s surrounded by his co-workers and confidants, surrounded by SHIELD agents, and there are moments where he can close his eyes and pretend that nothing changed.

But then he’ll walk past Simmons with her painted-on smiles and the stiff set of her shoulders and he’ll remember. Other times, it’s Gonzalez as he limps over with a stiff upper lip, looking so out of place in Coulson’s domain that it would be funny if everything hadn’t gone tits up.

Mostly though, it’s Fitz. Refusing to eat, refusing to talk to anyone other than Mack… refusing to do much of anything out of defiance… or pride… or loyalty… maybe he refuses for all those reasons. The way that Fitz looks at him sometimes, with his sunken cheeks and bright eyes grown too large for his face, it makes Mack think that the refusal to co-operate mostly stems from his hurt.

It was a bitch of a realization, the first day that Mack came to terms with the role he had played in hurting Fitz.

The moments where Mack can pretend that everything is fine are brief and damning because nothing’s the same. Fitz is locked up, Coulson’s missing, Hunter’s on the run, and Mack is walking around questioning everything he’s ever done that’s brought him to this point.

As noble as their motives had been, Coulson’s been out of the picture for months and nothing has changed. SHIELD still operates in the shadows, Gonzalez has started to tighten his reins around the organization, and not for the first time Mack considers breaking Fitz out and just running.

It’s tempting to imagine a future with Fitz where their ties to SHIELD have been severed and they can be together. It’s tempting, but Mack’s not a naive man. He knows better than to think that Fitz would ever want something from Mack again… not friendship, certainly not love… it doesn’t matter that Mack would do anything for Fitz, not anymore.

The most that Mack can be for Fitz now is a constant. He’ll lay bare his soul, give Fitz the honest truth of whatever is asked, and Mack will show up.

Turning the corner, he makes to head down the stairs that lead to the cells when Mack registers Simmons calling after him.

“Mack!  _Mack_!” She’s panting, hair falling into her face, every inch of her body reading of panic. “He’s not there. You have to come with me right now.”

These days, he and Simmons stay out of each other’s space. There’s not much to say, no ready guidelines on how to apologize for infiltrating and then overthrowing your team, not even when it’s for the greater good. The only thing that she would ever come running to Mack over would be Fitz.

He doesn’t remember much of their run to the medical bay. If someone were to ask him later on, Mack would have to admit to going on autopilot. He can remember the cold, crushing fear that consumed him, and Mack can remember snippits of information that fell from Simmons’ clinical lips.

Words like  _dehydrated_  and  _malnourished_  - long silences when Gonzalez would come in followed by Simmons shaking her head.

He remembers Simmons taking his hands in hers. Remembers her saying Fitz needed to rest, that Mack should grab some sleep as well.

What snaps Mack out of autopilot is how pale and drawn Fitz looks as he sleeps in the medical bay, hooked up to sensors and drips and more equipment that Mack can’t begin to identify.

Gently, Mack squeezes Simmons’ hands, careful to get her attention without attracting the notice of the guards stationed outside. Leaning close, he makes up his mind and breathes a promise into the space between them.

“We’re getting him out.”


End file.
